Flexible wire mat.



FLEXIBLE WIRE MAT.-

APL; 1111111111111111111111 1 JOHN F. SHELTON, 0F FORT WORTH, TEXAS.

FLEXIBLE WIRE MAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1911.

Application led September 18, 1911. Serial No. 649,885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI I, JOHN F. SHELTQN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Vorth, in the county of Tarrant and State of Texas, have invented certain new and` One advantage of the mats is that they" are made of coils which are loosely woven together and loosely connected to a flexible border at ythe sides of the mat. The coils being loosely woven together, dirt and mud will be easily shaken out of the mat.

The ends of the mats are provided with means to prevent the mats from cupping up and causing people to stumble.

Other objects and advantages will be fully explained in the following description and the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this application. l

Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of a mat. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the link bars of the border.

Similar characters of reference are used to indicate the same parts throughout the several views.

A mat is made of a series of coils of wire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc., loosely woven into each other in series. At the sides of the mats, being the ends of the coils, the ends of the coils are secured in link bars 10 by making holes in the ends of the link bars large enough to pass the ends of twocoils therethrough and bending the ends of the wires against the outside of the link bars. The two coils are hooked into each other as they pass through the link bars and both coils pass through two link bars, as shown.

The means for preventing the mat from turning up at the ends consists of a flat bar 11 which is run through the last coil flatwise and on which are formed Ls at the ends. The Ls 13 are turned a quarter turn at l2 so that the Ls stand up edgewise and thel Ls are made long enough for attaching two ormore coils thereto. The ends of the wire coils are run through the Ls and bent against the outside thereof. This bar 1l and the Ls' 13 will prevent the iirst two or three coils from rolling on each other and will make a portion of the mat flat and the weight of the flat portion will prevent the mat from turning up at the ends. It will be seen that the bars 10 are lapped on each other and that the bars stand up edgewise so that they .will fold on each other.

It is preferable to make the mats of spring wire so that the mats will yield to the pressure of the feet and be resilient so that they will retain their form.

I-Iaving fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-

As a new article of manufacture, a tlexiy ble mat comprising a plurality of coils o spring wire loosely woven together in series, side borders consisting of flat link bars standing edgewise and lapped on each other in series, and end borders consisting of flat bars, one for each end of the mat run flatwise through the last coil and having the ends thereof twisted a quarter turn and bent to extend edgewise on portions of the sides of the mat to be engaged by two or more of said coils, the ends of said coils being passed loosely through the bent portions of said end bars and through said link bars and bent against the outsides thereof.

In testimony whereof, I set my hand in the p-resence of two witnesses.

JOI-IN F. SHELTON.

Witnesses:

A. L. JACKSON, B. M. OssUN'r.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of lPatents, Washington, D. C. 

